HRW condemns STC’s violations in Aden

On Jul 19, 2024 2:24 AM

BEIRUT, July 19 (YPA) – Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned on Thursday the violations and attacks that the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) carried out against civil society in the city of Aden, south of Yemen.

The organization indicated in a statement that STC forces stormed the headquarters of the Yemeni Women’s Union last May and threatened its employees.

The statement called the STC to take immediate measures to remove the “Union of Southern Women” from the headquarters, and put an end to its attempts to replace independent institutions with the organization-affiliated entities.

“Although the employees were able to return to their offices on June 23, the STC asked them to provide half of the building’s area for the Southern Women’s Union, and to remove the word “Yemen” from the name of their organization, “it continued.

The statement explained that the STC established the “Southern Women’s Union,” and refused to renew the license of the independent Yemeni Women’s Union.

It quoted significant interviewees as saying that the STC began harassing the Yemeni Women’s Union in early May, refusing to renew its license, despite the union meeting the necessary requirements for renewal.

The organization stated, “On May 12, representatives of the Southern Women’s Union demanded that the Yemeni Women’s Union hand over its headquarters, and serve the women of the South exclusively, and not women from the ‘northern provinces residing in Aden.”